Market Place of Ideas: Sex Slavery In America

For our market place of ideas project, I chose to research the topic of sex slavery in America. I was appalled to learn how prevalent it is in our society, but I was even more shocked to hear how oblivious people are about it. It appears on the news every once in a while, but it remains an ignored subject most of the time. In this day and age, sex trafficking in America has become a bigger problem than ever before. With unlimited access to the internet, and the ability for people to put whatever they please on the internet thanks to the many freedoms they abuse from the constitution. In America, there are an estimated 200,000 women and children in jeopardy of sex trafficking each year. It is horrifying to hear the stories of abuse that these innocent women endure and they feelings of hopelessness they have to endure until they finally escape their lot in life, either through running away or through death. These girls are sometimes kidnapped, sometimes runaways that get pulled into the prostitution ring, sometimes children that are sold by their own family members out of desperation for drug money, and some that are simply so lost and desperate in the world that they have nothing left to hope for. These victims of sex slavery are sometimes as young as ten or eleven years old. They are victims of tragedy. Some are held in basements or attics; some forced to work in brothel; some are sexually assaulted by up to twenty or thirty men in a single day; some are sewn up, raped, sewn up again, and raped again; and some are forced the streets or truck stops until they can earn enough money to bring back to their pimps and avoid too severe of abuse. These women are dehumanized beyond belief. They are physically, sexually, and mentally abused. They are forced to use drugs until they become hooked on them. Then the pimps use the drugs as collateral against them. These women and children are not only sold on street corners or at brothels, but they are now sold on the internet. Underage girls have nude photos posted of them on sites like Craigslist and Backpage. The adult sections of these websites are used to sell these girls as prostitutes. What my goal is, and the goal of many others protesting backpage.com is, is to take down the adult section of the website so that this increasingly popular tool for sex trafficking can be eliminated. These women and children need to be looked after and protected like they never have been before. Sex trafficking can not go unnoticed any longer in this nation.